Robot Monkeys

I just heard about the Venezuelan incursion into Ecuador to attack the leadership of the FARC a few hours ago. The first headline on CNN I read was ominous: “Chavez Troops on Colombian Border.” Ten battalions ordered to the border. I’m not sure how big a Venezuelan battalion is, but that could be anywhere from 5000 to 15,000 troops. (Venezuela has an estimated military size of 87,500 active duty personnel.) The article went on to say that Venezuela closed their embassy in Bogota.

Then the second headline I read was that Ecuador was moving troops to the Venezuelan border because the Venezuelan story that their troops simply crossed the border defending themselves isn’t true, and that the Venezuela used a combination of air strikes and ground forces to attack the FARC base.

Now I read that Colombia says that Ecuador is supporting the FARC.

This is bad. This real bad. This is regional war bad. I can’t understand why Ecuador would be supporting the FARC. Chavez is known to have sympathies with the FARC. Could Chavez have talked Ecuador into some plan to support the FARC in an effort to further destabilize the Colombian government? Is Chavez hoping that a FARC, Ecuador, and Venezuelan attack could topple the Colombian government which would then recreate Gran Colombia with Hugo Chavez as the new Simon Bolivar?